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      WASHINGTON (AP) - Labor unions at the heart of a burning
national disagreement over the cost of public employees want to
frame the debate as a civil rights issue, an effort that may draw
more sympathy to public workers being blamed for busting state
budgets with generous pensions.


      As part of that strategy, unions are planning rallies across the
country on April 4 - the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
assassination. Union officials want the observances in dozens of
cities to remind Americans that King was supporting striking
sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., the night he was shot.


      By portraying collective bargaining as a human rights issue,
union officials hope the rallies can help fuel a backlash against
Republicans in Wisconsin and other states trying to curb collective
bargaining rights for public employees.


      "This is a fight for workers, this is a fight for the middle
class, this is a fight to try to stave off the shift in power and
wealth that is starting to become gross," said Harold
Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire
Fighters.


      The planned rallies on the 43rd anniversary of King's death are
part of a coordinated strategy by labor leaders to ride the
momentum of pro-union demonstrations and national polls showing
most Americans support collective bargaining rights as Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker and other GOP leaders in states fight to reduce
or strip those benefits.


      Walker has argued that collective bargaining is a budget issue.
On Friday, he signed into law a bill the strips nearly all
collective bargaining benefits from most public workers, arguing
the move will give local governments flexibility in making budget
cuts needed to close the state's $3.6 billion deficit.


      "That's something people forget about Dr. King," said Liz
Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest
labor federation. "We all know about his work in the civil rights
movement, but he was also a workers' rights advocate."


      It's also another signal that labor leaders are trying to
broaden the coalition of groups speaking out against efforts to
limit collective bargaining rights for public employee unions.
Unions are coordinating the rallies with the NAACP, the Leadership
Conference on Civil and Human Rights and other civil rights,
religious and progressive groups.


      "Dr. King lost his life struggling to help sanitation workers -
public sector employees - achieve their goals for a dignified
existence as workers," said Wade Henderson, president of the
Leadership Conference. "We think that's an extraordinary backdrop
in which to frame the debate over what's taking place in the
country today."


      When King traveled to Memphis in 1968, he was lending support to
more than 1,100 black sanitation workers who were on strike seeking
better working conditions, higher wages and benefits, and union
recognition.


      Daniel Walkowitz, a labor historian at New York University, said
the gesture was typical of King's later years, in which the targets
of his activism were less often the legal barriers to civil rights
for blacks. More often, King was focused on lack of employment and
educational opportunities for African-Americans.


      "Tying the rallies to King is an interesting strategy because
it does draw upon King's understanding that the problems of labor
were problems of civil rights," Walkowitz said.


      Walker argues that the sweeping step against collective
bargaining is necessary to balance the budget not only over the
next two years but into the future. He said he wouldn't compromise
on the issue or on anything that saves the state money.


      But union leaders see it as a fight for middle class rights.
Wisconsin unions had agreed to cuts in pension and health benefits
as long as they could keep collective bargaining rights. Labor
leaders say Walker's refusal to compromise shows he wants to leave
unions toothless and cripple their political clout.


      While unions are on the verge of losing power in Wisconsin, Ohio
and other states, union leaders believe they are winning the war of
public opinion and pulling in broader support.


      "The movement is bigger than just the labor movement," United
Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said. "What we're seeing is an
awakening about the importance of collective bargaining."


      Labor leaders already have pledged to pour more than $30 million
into a push to stop legislation in dozens of states that seeks to
limit bargaining rights of public worker unions or otherwise curb
union power. Union officials are also helping mobilize
demonstrations in state capitols and spending money on recall
campaigns against GOP officials who support efforts to curb union
rights.

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Labor unions at the heart of a burning
national disagreement over the cost of public employees want to
frame the debate as a civil rights issue, an effort that may draw
more sympathy to public workers being blamed for busting state
budgets with generous pensions.

Unions frame bargaining as civil rights issue

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